RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING HURRICANE HANNA MAKES LANDFALL IN SOUTH TEXAS… It is a good thing that Hurricane Hanna is now beginning to move inland across the southern part of Texas as a rapid strengthening trend was in progress right up to the point of landfall. Maximum winds at landfall will be officially recorded as 90 mph. The minimum central pressure fell from 991 millibars at 1AM this morning to 973 mb as of the latest 4PM advisory. That is an 18 millibar drop in about 13 hours. Again, a major blessing for Texas that this system ran out of Gulf water to work with as any more time over water could have enabled Hanna to quickly become a powerful, even more dangerous major hurricane. Hanna will continue to move inland over the next several hours in south Texas, where the main concern will quickly become heavy rain and flash flooding issues. A few more early Saturday evening forecast notes are below…
SCATTERED LOUD STORMS LOCALLY… We continue to have numerous showers and thunderstorms pop up this evening across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Storms have been quite loud at times with lots of cloud-to-ground lightning and loud thunder. At the moment, storms continue to work inland across parts of Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, and Butler counties. Storms also continue to be plentiful this afternoon across the entirety of Okaloosa County. Storms will generally start to fade away after sunset. More storms will develop on Sunday.
GONZALO DISSIPATES COMPLETELY; LAST ADVISORY ISSUED… The environmental factors we have been discussing all week (dry, dusty air to the north and increasing atmospheric shear in the Caribbean) coupled with the continued low latitude movement of Gonzalo ended up being too much for the system to survive. The National Hurricane Center has issued the final advisory on the remnants of what was Tropical Storm Gonzalo as recently as last night. The remnants of Gonzalo will continue to bring heavy rain at times to parts of the southern Lesser Antilles and the northern portions of Venezuela over the next day or two. Redevelopment is not expected.
60-70% CHANCE OF NEXT TROPICAL STORM FORMING IN ATLANTIC… Just behind the remnants of Gonzalo is a large, robust tropical wave located several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. NHC suggests there is now a 60-70% chance that a tropical storm will form in the central Atlantic Ocean because of this developing tropical wave. It will move toward the Lesser Antilles early next week. When/if this system becomes a tropical storm, it will take the name Isaias. (not a typo – Isaias is an Argentine/Spanish name pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs.)
APP… If you haven’t already, be sure to download the free RedZone Weather app to keep up with all the latest information on the world of weather in south Alabama and northwest Florida. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download. Once you have the app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) and tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
Have a nice Saturday evening!